


Smoke

by The_Tardis_Rose_10



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fights, Legends, M/M, good 'ol RWBY fanfiction, humor at some point, sads
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-26
Updated: 2014-03-28
Packaged: 2018-01-13 20:55:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1240492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Tardis_Rose_10/pseuds/The_Tardis_Rose_10
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A band of ancient blood rises from the shadows bearing powers not seen for thousands of years. The new heroes must team up to defend the world against the creatures of Grimm by learning how to control their power, making it a blessing rather than a curse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. PROLOGUE: The Legend

 

While the world prepared itself in any way that it could against the darkness of the creatures of Grimm, a new rising, one locked so deep away in the clutches of time that most had ceased to recognize it ever existed, was beginning its journey out of the depths of the shadows. Tales of long ago, ancient legends passed down for thousands of years, spoke of an existence so powerful that it could never be contained. For many years, these folklores evoked fear in the hearts of ever human and creature that came to hear them and sparked great wars among the people, but over time, the stories became legends, the legends became tales, and tales, like children’s stories, became nothing more than entertainment and tradition. Very few believed that this power ever existed, those who did, now believed that they had perished long ago.

                The legend, as it is called, is of the perilous journey of a man by the name of Lao Shinto, an outcast of his village because of his beliefs in a One God who ruled sovereign over all things on earth. The man was said to have traveled from his village into the wilderness, where he believed that his God would prevent any harm of him and set him in his intended direction.

 The legend says that after seven days of walking through the feral wilderness with no nourishment or shelter of any kind, he came across a gaping black cavern where, due to pure mental and physical exhaustion, he settled himself to rest for the time being. It is told that as the man lay in the blackened cave; his eyes became accustomed to the dark and he spotted a dim white light. With what strength he could muster, he crawled deeper and deeper into the cave and closer to the light that seemed to slowly blink in and out of view dimly like a star on the verge of death. When he reached the light, it swirled and seemed to call him closer in a voice unheard, which he obeyed and crept closer only in time for it to seep into a darkened concave in the wall, about the size of a man’s fist.

Not believing what was happening, the man took a minuet to clear his mind. It had to all be an illusion, an utter mirage from the deprivation of sleep and lack of nourishment, but as he readied himself to turn from the wall and leave the cave, the light shone once more; this time from within the concave, once more luring him in with its seductive glowing dance. Knowing neither what came over him nor what he would find in doing so, he reached his hand into the gap and felt for the source of the light. His hand was promptly greeted with a warm sensation and all of his aches, pains, and needs vanished from his body like the darkness fleeing from the light of day.  Shocked, he quickly tried to pull his hand out but did not succeed in doing so before feeling a sudden snap of pain rage through his hand like that of a snakes fang.

The man staggered to the head of the cave and into the light of day as his body began to be overcome by weakness. He fell to the ground and watched as his hand turned black and as the black began to travel up his arm towards his body, defenseless with his body in a state of paralyses. Knowing that his fate was now before him he cast his eyes upward to the heavens and prayed to his God to bring him peace and then he slipped into the overwhelming blackness before his eyes.

The story was changed and shifted as it was passed from generation to generation, transformed to meet the desires of the person who told it. Quite often, the story was left just how it ended by parents who wanted to teach their kids lessons about straying from religion or to discourage overly inquisitive children from letting their curiosity get the best of them; the man strayed from his born religion and was punished with death, or the man was a seeker of worldly pleasures and let the light tempt him to his death by way of his curiosity.

The story actually ended much differently though, not with death and condemnation as most like to think, but with hope and virtue for a world with so very little. The man survived both the wilderness and the encounter. He also found that whatever had happened to him had left him with a miraculous gift, a gift that harnessed more power than any man could dream, a gift that he called The Devine Smoke. He found that the black venom that had traveled up his body had settled into a sort of pattern on his back in a tattoo like form. He also found that it was much more than a tattoo; it was a living pigment that he could will to pour over his body or down his arms in order to create anything that he told it to. The pigment was in the form of a cloud of greyish smoke that would hover wherever he held it and create anything that he willed it to; any weapon or protection that he needed.

It is said that the smoke had many more powers that he kept to himself; the only reason anyone knew about what it could do at all was because he returned to his village and tried to show his people what his God had done for him. He was called evil and a bearer of dark magic and was quickly taken prisoner to be put to death the next morning for his sins, but when the night faded, so had he, and he was never seen in his village again.

A few of the people believed what they had seen and believed the stories that he had told them, these people were shunned from the village and forced to find their own way of life. Many wars erupted between the two villages and great destruction ripped through the people, until one day when the followers of Lao simply vanished. Not a trace of them was ever found. Some believe that they were finally wiped out by the angered Gods, some believe that Lao returned for his people, but no one knows for sure.

Whether believer or unbeliever, the people would one day find the answer to all of their questions.  War will once again be raged, and the Smoke would rise once more to show its true potential and save a world in such desperate need of a savior.


	2. Chapter 1: Awakening

Darkness hugged his body from every angle; the only light piercing the black abyss poured from the looming pillars that branched out from the great stone house of worship and held fire up to the sky as an offering. He braced himself as the giant black and white armor clad serpent crashed its mighty fangs into the smoldering shield that framed his body. Once again, the creature retreated and glared at him through its coils with all too familiar human-like eyes. Even though he had never fought this beast before, he couldn’t help but feel as if this same incident had occurred a thousand times before, over and over like and instant replay. Suddenly, as if on some kind of cue, the serpent and everything around them shattered like broken black and grey glass into a billion pieces, leaving him standing in utter blackness.

The next scene was real, so real that he could touch, feel, and smell the unbearably humid yet stale air and all of the objects around him, but just as always; nothing was there.

“ _Why do I say just as always if this has never happened before?”_

For a moment he stood with shut eyes and took in every detail of the nothingness. With his eyes closed he could see everything around him, but the minute he opened them, nothing was there. He could not tell what he had seen after opening his eyes, or perhaps simply could not remember. All he knew was that something was there, something lurking in the darkness, unknown and unseen. He closed his eyes once again and let everything around him seep in; something told him to run.

               He felt the invisible creature breathing down his neck no matter how fast he went, but he somehow knew that if he stopped a terrible fate would befall him. As long as he was running, nothing bad could happen. As if something had read his thoughts, he suddenly stopped. He didn’t intend to or even really make himself stop, it just happened. Looking from side to side he saw walls, but the walls were not tangible, they were images that flew past and made it seem as if he was still running. Having no clue what the images were, he could only watch; watch as faces, events, places, and time sped past him in a blurred line between what was reality and dream and feel as if he was somehow connected to it all;

_“But how?”_

As if out of thin air, the creature appeared before him and smiled its faceless toothy grin. It didn’t seem real, it was just there, like a mirage speaking to him without words and listening to his thoughts without him uttering a sound. It abruptly changed its form into a glowing light that bobbed around in front of him without form or sound. He felt himself moving towards it without will and once again closed his eyes. As he approached within a few feet, the light turned into the coils of the snake and the piercing eyes that stabbed at his memory, but he didn’t stop, closer and closer. The serpent uncoiled and showed its fangs as it towered into the air readying itself to strike again; but still he walked. The snake crashed down upon him and he fell to the ground covering his eyes with his hands and waiting for the end of it all, but it never came; all he felt was warmth. Wind and warmth like a soft spring day.

When he opened his eyes and stood, the image before him was clear. Not like any of the other things that he had seen before, but as bright to his eyes as the light of day. A woman stood before him, surrounded by a swaying grassy field and floating purple lilac petals. He would have known her face anywhere, this beautiful woman. He had never seen her before, didn’t even know her name or who she was, but he found himself calling out her name as if he had known her forever. Her name, Nikoma Garawanto, the most beautiful woman he had never known and yet the only woman that he had ever loved. He went to her and she turned her soft brown eyes toward him filling him with deep passion and rapture, but when their eyes met his heart sank to his stomach. Her eyes were not filled with their usual sparkle of joy, but with fear and desperation. She rose and ran from him but when he tried to reach for her, he felt the smoke rush down his arm and wrap around her, consuming her in its grip and filling the sky with black. Once again he was surrounded in blackness crying out and screaming for her, but she was gone; He had killed her. Every voice within him screamed,

“ _MURDERER! EVERYONE YOU LOVE WILL DIE AT YOUR TOUCH! EVIL SOULED MURDERER!_

Above the sound of his violent sobs and cries and the voices wracking him with their hatred, he heard a voice in the back of his mind, he heard his name; someone was calling his name. As he felt himself start to waver in and out of reality he heard a message as clear as if someone was speaking face to face with him;

_“You can hide behind your weakness and fear for as long as you like, but the shadows will fall and you will be revealed to all as what you really are.”_

Just like that, he was awake. His body was covered in sweat and he could not seem to still his breathing.

“Wake up, come on you’re just having another nightmare.”

His eyes shot open and stared aimlessly at the face of the girl standing over him.

“Are you just going to stay there or are you going to get ready?”

He rose slowly and tried not to laugh as she stood with her arms crossed and her innocent round face strictly observing his every move. It had been about fifteen years since he and his mother had found refuge in the small village and thirteen years since his sister had been born. He had been only five years of age when they settled in the village and his mother had died seven years later leaving him to fend for himself and his five year old sister. Although he was the oldest, his sister Kame had always thought herself as his care taker. She insisted on doing all of the things for him that their mother would have done,

_“I will one day be a wife and mother, it is better if I learn how to be a good one by caring for a challenge such as you.”_

Although it was certainly nice to have her help him with the everyday tasks that he was not exactly accomplished at, he had a certain guilt building up inside because the girl had never really had a chance to be a child. Now that she was getting older, he thought it only sensible that she be around girls her age and women that could be of good influence.

“Kame, I can handle getting ready, why don’t you run over and spend the day with some of your friends?” he asked.

“I have a lot to do around here; besides, I want to go with you today for your training.”

“Kame you know what I have told you about going to the temple with me, it is not allowed. If you get caught on training grounds you know how much trouble I would get into. It’s no place for a little girl.”

“I understand,” she said as she gathered up their clothes to be washed, “I will see you this evening.” She walked out of the room with her head bowed and left the house to wash their clothes.

“Go visit your friends!” He called after her, but she ran off with no response.

He knew that it was hard for them to be fully accepted into the village because of their mixed ethnicity, his mother was white, she had not come from any of the local villages but from a very far away one. His father, although he had never known him, was from a local tribe, but he had no idea which one. He knew very little about his father and his mother had never spoken of him. Because he was from white blood and the blood of another village, he had not been accepted kindly at all into the social circle of the village, his sister on the other hand had been fathered by a high ranking man in the village; but she was still half white. Hiroshi Lanto had become smitten with their mother and had taken them both into his house. He was, however, not so fond of Tadashi.

His mother had married Hiroshi that year and in their second year in the village, had given birth to Kame. Hiroshi had treasured Kame like a precious gem but had never been able to find it in his heart to treat Tadashi as a true son; he simply used him as an extra pair of hands to live by. While Kame had found her place among a few of the village children, he had never had a chance to have friends; he was either too busy working for his step father or he was not accepted by the tribal boys. Kame had not been allowed to associate with many of the village girls because their mothers thought people with white skin to be a curse, but when two missionaries had come to the village, she had made friends with their children quickly.

_“If only she would spend more time with them.”_ He thought as he tied back his long hair and picked up his sword. He often thought things like this in his head as if he was talking to someone else, asking for help to survive and be a strong caretaker for his sister.

_“A true man doesn’t rely on others to fight his battles.”_ With one last frowning glance in the mirror he straightened his sword sheath on his shoulder and walked out the door.


	3. Chapter 2: Steel and Flesh

“The key to fighting like a warrior is not one secret that you learn and instantly become a great warrior; it is the cooperation of many great traits working together simultaneously to create a complex machine. Power, mentality, skill…..”

Tadashi stood in a line between two men that were about his age and tried to listen to the instructor as he went on about every detail of fighting. In his mind, fighting was not something that could be taught with words, it was a skill refined by constant hands on practice and dedication. Certainly with his lack of skills, he needed some hands on training. Jun Takashi, on the other hand, had a different idea about fighting.  

“Take for instance the great war of Sho-lang, the battle lasted for over two weeks and not a single warrior stopped fighting for a moment of rest. This takes not only great physical strength, but mental and spiritual. Men like this are why our people have survived as long as they have; men like this are the cause…”

No matter how hard he tried, his mind just kept slipping into the void and his attention was about that of a child’s amidst a large celebration.  He looked over at the young man standing next to him; he was a tall, lean built man with dark slanted eyes, raven hair that fell to his shoulders, and the build and muscle of a skilled warrior.  His father was Jun Takashi, the instructor of this temple and one of the greatest warriors that the village had ever known. His name was Yuji and everyone in the village knew that he was being groomed to be just as powerful as his father.

Every inch of his being was warlike; his eyes were cold and hard from years of training and a long scar that ran from his eyebrow, over his eye and to his cheek told of harsh treatment. The young man noticed him staring and turned to him frigidly,

“Is there a problem?” he hissed in a hushed tone, but not hushed enough.

“Since you two are so eager to socialize and obviously know everything there is to know about what I am teaching, why don’t you both just come over here and display to us your great skill.” Jun voiced loudly at them.

                The two walked slowly in front of the line of young men and Tadashi caught the eye of one man who smirked at them with interest, it was the man that was standing on his other side. His look said with a slight amusement,

_“Good luck buddy.”_

                Yuji lowered his stance and stared flatly at his opponent as the instructor handed them each a blunted weapon.

“On my command.” Jun joined the line of boys watching, “One, two, Three, FIGHT!”

                Yuji lunged toward Tadashi swiftly and whipped his sword skillfully towards his body. Tadashi, although very skilled in body, mind, and technique, had the inescapable curse of having no ability to wield a weapon. No matter how hard he tried, it was as if his whole body would reject his weapon; it was as if his hand had a mind of its own.

                He grasped his sword and swung it at Yuji as hard as he could but the boy was too quick, he dodged the blow and reciprocated with one of his own. Tadashi felt as if he was airborne for eternity and when he hit the ground and cleared his vision, Yuji was standing over him,

“You may wield the appearance of a warrior, you may even present yourself as one, but a man that cannot control his own weapon does not deserve to possess one. He is a waste of flesh and steel.” With that he sheathed his weapon and walked away.

                “Tadashi Lanto, fall back in line.” Jun watched with a serpents smile as he stood and walked sullenly back to his spot in line, not a single man looked at him, not even Yuji. The man next to him nudged his arm slightly; this was the only comfort that he could give.

                “Now that we have all had a chance to see why this instruction is so crucial, it time to pair up.”

Jun walked through the line of men and paired them up making it quite obvious to pair Tadashi with the weakest fighter in the group.  The rest of the class went by in a blur, and he left as soon as he could.

“Hey! Wait a second!”

The young man that had stood next to him through the class was running up behind him.

“I just wanted to say sorry for everything that happened today, master Jun can be a bit harsh on slow learners.”

“Slow Learner! Is that what you all think of me? Just because I can’t use a freaking sword? Thanks for the effort but I don’t need your pity or anyone else’s for that matter.” He hissed.

“I didn’t mean to offend you, please,” he said grabbing him by the arm to stop him, “I just know what it’s like to be the odd one out. You think that you can do it all yourself and you don’t need anyone but it’s not that simple. You can’t train yourself and Master Jun has very little patience, you could get kicked out of the class. Just let me help you.”

Tadashi stood staring at him in shock for a few minutes before he responded,

“You can’t help me, no one can. You don’t think that I have tried to get better? He said as he jerked his arm away. “Besides, I have enough responsibility to worry about.”

“I’m not saying that I definitely can do it, I am simply saying that it is worth a try. There is always hope if you believe there is. Sorry, I haven’t really introduced myself; I am Kado yen, son of the local shop keeper Kioshi Yen.”

Tadashi stood staring at him with questioning eyes before asking,

“Nothing is for free, what do you ask of me in return?”

“I ask only one thing, that you offer a place to stay for my mother and I. My father has become mad with rage and has begun to take his anger out on our family. Please, I humble myself to you, let us stay and I will train you the best that I can; my mother can also be of assistance to your parents. She is very accomplished at everyday chores.”

“My parents are long dead,” he whispered as he looked at the ground, “It is only my sister and I.” He thought back to when his mother was alive. Hiroshi had also become mad with rage and had treated their family with a hard hand. He had never known what had become of him, one day he simply vanished; the village thought him dead. His mother did the best that she could to care for them but sometimes, it just wasn’t enough. He told Kado that his parents had died in fear that if he knew his father was of another blood, he too would reject him.

“My deepest condolences….” Kado said softly.

“Do not concern yourself; I have managed our household just fine. You may stay with us, and your mother.”

With that he turned and continued on his way.

“Thank you…” Kato said after him, “This means a lot to me.”

                Tadashi made his way slowly down the old dusty road to where he worked after training and tired not to worry about anything.

 

 


End file.
